5 Question Types Help You Get Curious About Your Health

This post picks up where the post How Curiosity Helps You Make Health Changes left off by presenting some key questions for the health-curious. If my made-up word is new to you, you’re “health-curious” if you’re willing to learn new things about your health in the interest of improving it.

Asking the right questions can help you take the health benefits of curiosity to the next level. Curiosity supports five essential mental processes that contribute to your ability to make health changes:

Clearly observing details

Reframing perspectives

Generating choices and developing plans

Getting un-stuck

Supporting and nurturing resilience

When you’re able to ask meaningful questions related to each of these 5 processes you are not only applying curiosity you’re growing it for use in the future. You can cultivate your health-related curiosity by asking key questions within each of the 5 categories or question types.

Observing details.

Start the process of observing details more clearly by making the statement: “I’m curious about how I might examine this subject more closely.” Then ask yourself:

What are the details? What are they related to?

What is not clear to me? What additional details might make it clearer?

How might I see the details more clearly?

What am I seeing now that I haven’t seen before?

These questions cultivate health curiosity by helping you examine the topic more closely. When you’re able to observe the details closely and clearly, you may see something you didn’t notice before. You may also be able to identify components or aspects of the topic you never considered previously.

Reframing perspectives.

Start the process of reframing your perspectives by stating: “I’m curious about how I might reframe my perspective on this topic or situation.” Then ask yourself:

How am I currently looking at this?

What if I looked at it differently? What might change? What might stay the same?

What new perspective(s) are available?

What possibilities open up as a consequence of the new perspective?

These questions cultivate curiosity by helping you see the topic or situation in a different way. Once you begin to see your health from different perspectives you’ll begin to see the value of looking through different perspectives in other areas of your life as well.

Curiosity gives you the ability to keep reframing as you go, but if you’re having trouble seeing it a topic or situation different way, reach out to your support network and ask others to help you.

Generating choices and making plans.

Start your process of generating multiple choices and making plans by stating: “I’m curious about how I might generate more choices around this topic/situation.” Then ask yourself:

What choices do I have now?

What choices would I like to have?

What if there was another way?

What might be required if I were taking different actions?

How do my choices affect my plans?

These questions cultivate curiosity by encouraging you to continue exploring what your options are. It’s often true with health-related decisions need to be made, the more options you have, the better. Remember that there’s always another way.

Getting un-stuck.

Start the process of getting un-stuck by stating: “I’m curious about how I might get unstuck.” Then ask yourself:

What is working? What is not?

How could I change this so it works better?

How do I feel when…?

What might I feel like if…?

What might happen if…?

These questions cultivate curiosity by allowing you to consider trying things differently, which may be just what you need. If you’re stuck, it’s as if you’re paralyzed. You’re not making progress or even taking action if you’re stuck and paralyzed.

Supporting and nurturing resilience.

Start the process of supporting and nurturing resilience by stating: “I’m curious about how I might continue to nurture my resilience.” Then ask yourself:

What adjustments are required with my existing or proposed choices and plans?

What might make my adjustment smoother, easier, more fun?

Who can help me with this?

These questions cultivate curiosity by helping you fluidly adjust to change as it happens, examine the process, and modify it to more closely meet your needs. Remember, resilience is about adjusting gracefully to changing circumstances, so it goes hand in hand with your choices and plans.

The key questions listed in this post are designed to spark curiosity and keep it going on your journey to better health. I hope you’ll add to the list as you explore your own individual situation. As a health coach, I often encourage my clients to “get curious” as a way to explore any obstacles that might be holding a person back from successfully making health changes. So, any time you’re working with a coach and they say, “I’m curious…” just know they’re asking you to go deeper, and the answer is likely to be very interesting and helpful.

Being curious about your health means you’re actively engaged in the process of being well. You’re willing to learn, open to new information and looking forward to future improvements. All-in-all, it’s a positive thing to be health-curious.

Curiosity goes hand-in-hand with taking personal responsibility and being accountable. It also can help make learning about your health more fun. Ultimately, curiosity is a precursor to action.